Titles and emblems of the German Emperor after 1873

The German Emperors after 1873 had a variety of titles and coats of arms, which in various compositions became the officially used titles and coats of arms. The title and coat of arms were last fixed in 1873, but the titles did not necessarily mean that the area was really dominated, and sometimes even several princes bore the same title.

In 1817, new titles were introduced for the King of Prussia, the large title, the mid-length title and the short title, parallel to the large, mid-sized and small coats of arms of Prussia.

The titles of Prussian kings during the German Empire

The titles were complete (represented by William I, German Emperor) after the enactment of 1873:

The great title German VersionEnglish Translation Wir Wilhelm, von Gottes Gnaden König von Preußen, Markgraf zu Brandenburg, Graf zu Hohenzollern, Souveräner und oberster Herzog von Schlesien wie auch der Grafschaft Glatz, Großherzog vom Niederrhein und Posen, Herzog zu Sachsen, Westfalen und Engern, zu Pommern, Lüneburg, Holstein und Schleswig, zu Magdeburg, Bremen, Geldern, Cleve, Jülich und Berg, sowie auch der Wenden und Kaschuben, zu Krossen, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg, Landgraf zu Hessen und Thüringen, Markgraf der Ober- und Niederlausitz, Prinz von Oranien, Fürst zu Rügen, zu Ostfriesland, zu Paderborn und Pyrmont, zu Halberstadt, Münster, Minden, Osnabrück, Hildesheim, zu Verden, Kammin, Fulda, Nassau und Mörs, gefürsteter Graf zu Henneberg, Graf der Mark und zu Ravensberg, zu Hohenstein, Tecklenburg und Lingen, zu Mansfeld, Sigmaringen und Veringen, Herr von Frankfurt. We Wilhelm, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg, Count of Hohenzollern, Sovereign and Supreme Duke of Silesia, as well as the County of Glatz, Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and Posen, Duke of Saxony, of Westphalia and Angria, of Pomerania, Lüneburg, Holstein and Schleswig, of Magdeburg, Bremen, Geldern, Cleves, Jülich and Berg, as well as of the Wends and Kashubians, of Crossen, Lauenburg, Mecklenburg, Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia, Prince of Orange, Prince of Rügen, of East Frisia, of Paderborn and Pyrmont, of Halberstadt, Münster, Minden, Osnabrück, Hildesheim, of Verden, Kammin, Fulda, Nassau and Mörs, Princely Count of Henneberg, Count of the Mark and of Ravensberg, of Hohenstein, Tecklenburg and Lingen, of Mansfield, Sigmaringen and Veringen, Lord of Frankfurt.

The mid-sized title German VersionEnglish Translation Wir Wilhelm, von Gottes Gnaden König von Preußen, Markgraf zu Brandenburg, souveräner und oberster Herzog von Schlesien, Großherzog vom Niederrhein und Posen, Herzog zu Sachsen, Westfalen und Pommern, zu Lüneburg und Bremen, zu Holstein, Schleswig und Lauenburg, Landgraf zu Hessen, Fürst zu Ostfriesland, Osnabrück und Hildesheim, zu Nassau und Fulda, Graf zu Hohenzollern, Herr von Frankfurt. We Wilhelm, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg, Sovereign and Supreme Duke of Silesia, Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and Posen, Duke of Saxony, Westphalia and Pomerania, of Lüneburg and Bremen, of Holstein, Schleswig and Lauenburg, Landgrave of Hesse, Prince of East Frisia, Osnabrück and Hildesheim, of Nassau and Fulda, Count of Hohenzollern, Lord of Frankfurt.

The short title German VersionEnglish Translation Wilhelm, von Gottes Gnaden König von Preußen etc. etc. etc. Wilhelm, by the Grace of God, King of Prussia etc. etc. etc.

Further titles The decree of 16 August 1873 included a selection from the Emperors' titles. He also had other titles, such as From 1900 until 1918: "Tupu Sili" of Samoa.Horst Gründer: Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien. Stuttgart 2004, , S. 183. See also Mata'afa Iosefo

Explanation of the individual titles listed in the great title in their order

King of Prussia Under its last master Albert in 1525, the State of the Teutonic Order was transformed into the secular Duchy of Prussia under Polish armament. After the death of his successor, the Duke Albert Frederick in 1618, the Duchy of Prussia became a part of the Brandenburg Hohenzollern, who now ruled it in personal union. In the Treaties of Wehlau in 1637 and Oliva in 1660, the Elector Frederick William, the "Great Elector", succeeded in gaining full sovereignty over the Duchy of Prussia, whereby he himself became a European sovereign. His successor, Frederick III of Brandenburg was crowned King Frederick I of Prussia on 18 January 1701, after the Emperor had contractually secured him to recognise him as King of the Holy Roman Empire and in Europe. The name and coat of arms of the Prussian monarch then passed as a result of the new designation of sovereignty and authority könglich-preußisch (royal Prussian) to the entire Prussian state of Hohenzollern, which lay within and outside the empire and for which the name of Prussia prevailed in the eighteenth century.

The restricted in in the King's title recalled that the West of Prussia, Royal Prussia (Warmia and West Prussia) remained under the Polish crown. This terminological refinement was, however, only observed in the German version. In Latin, he called himself "Nos Fridericu, Dei greatia Rex Borussiae,..."Christian Otto Mylius, Corpus Constitutionum Marchicarum (1737–1755) für Juli 1703. and in the French version "Frederic par la grace de Dieu Roi de Prusse...".Georg Friedrich von Martens, Recueil des Principaux Traités (1791–1807) vol. 6; part "Anhang"; S. 679 für November 1705.

After the first Polish partition of 1772 under Frederick II, Warmia, the Netzedistrikt and West Prussia fell to Prussia, so that Frederick II could now be called King of Prussia. This title was passed onto his successors. The last of these successors was Wilhelm II.

Margrave of Brandenburg As a result of the King's crowning of 1701, the title of Margrave of Brandenburg came as being the second placed title.

King Sigismund (1368–1437) was Margrave of Brandenburg until 1415. This included Altmark, Mittelmark, Prignitz, the land of Sternberg to the east of the Oder and a part of the Uckermark. The Office of the Archchamberlain of the Holy Roman Empire, and thus the Prince Elector, was awarded to the Margrave of Brandenburg by the Golden Bull in 1356. A delegation of the Mark came to King Sigismund in Ofen in 1411 in order to demand a governor for the Mark in support of the robber knights. The King ordered Frederick IV, Burgrave of Nuremberg from the House of Hohenzollern to be the Supreme Master and Administrator in the Mark. He led the title Wir Friedrich von Gotes Gnaden Margraf zu Brandenburg, des Heiligen Romischen Reiches Ertzkamerer und Burggraf zu Nuremberg (We, Frederick by grace of God, Margrave of Brandenburg, Imperial Holy Roman Archchamberlain and Burgrave of Nuremberg). On 18 April 1417, King Sigismund solemnly granted the burgraviate by handing over the banner with the Margraviate of Brandenburg,

Since then, the Hohenzollerns ruled as margraves in Brandenburg. The institutions of the archchamberlain and electorate expired in 1806 together with their titles, when the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist. Therefore, only the margrave remained as a title. The ordinance of 30 April 1815 divided the Prussian state into ten provinces, so that the Margraviate of Brandenburg became the province of Brandenburg with three provincial governments.

Count of Hohenzollern The Hohenzollerns were counts as reported throughout history. Adalbert (1125) was Count of Zollern. Since the 14th century, the House of Hohenzollern was named after the Hohenzollern mountain, which is located upstream from the Swabian Alb. In 1685, Emperor Leopold I granted the Brandenburgers the title "Count of Hohenzollern". The Prussian kings came from the Frankish line, from which the Brandenburg line developed. The Principalities of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen were ceded by their princes to Prussia on 7 December 1849, and were accepted by Prussian law on 12 March 1850.

Sovereign and Supreme Duke of Silesia as well as the County of Glatz Since Poland's King Casimir III, who had recognised Bohemian feudality for Silesia in 1335, Silesia belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Charles IV then integrated Silesia into the Reich. Under the rule of the Silesian Piasts, Silesia was divided into 17 principalities. The majority of Silesia was conquered by King Frederick II of Prussia during the Three Silesian Wars (1740–1763) from Austria. At the end of the First Silesian War, the peace of Wroclaw and the Treaty of Berlin from 1742 stood. In accordance with the treaty, the Duchy of Lower Silesia and the County of Kladsko passed "from the crown of Bohemia" to Frederick in full sovereignty and independence. He received Silesia, with the exception of the Duchy of Teschen, the city of Troppau, and the part beyond the Oppa and the high mountains, the Hennersdorf domination, and the Moravian enclaves in Silesia as well as the southern part of the Duchy of Nysa near Austria and the Duchy of Krnov. The Moravian Enclave Kietrz and the former Bohemian County of Kladsko went to Prussia. In the Treaty of Dresden, which ended the Second Silesian War in 1745, the provisions remained intact. The Empire guaranteed this peace in 1751.Fraglich ist, ob Schlesien damit aus dem Reich ausgeschieden war. Dazu Heinrich Ritter von Srbik: Deutsche Einheit. Idee und Wirklichkeit vom Heiligen Reich bis Königgrätz. Band 1., Bruckmann, München 1935, S. 101. In his capacity as King of Bohemia, the Austrian Emperor also retained the title of Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, as can be gathered from the grand title of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and Posen The King of Prussia had this title since 1815.

As a result of the Congress of Vienna, Prussia received the western, small part of its profit from the second partition of Poland under the designation Grand Duchy of Posen. Prussia kept nothing from the third partition. To compensate for this, the territories to the West of Germany were passed over. A decree issued in Vienna on 30 April 1815 created the Prussian province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and the Grand Duchy of the Lower Rhine. In 1822, the Rhine Province was established from both, with the title of Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine being kept. Over long periods of his history, the Rhineland had not fixed political boundaries. Thus, the name was little more than a geographical concept or a landscape that conceived a multitude of spiritual and secular principalities, counties, imperial abbeys, small dominions and imperial cities.

Duke of Saxony In contrast to most of the other states of the Confederation of the Rhine, Saxony had remained loyal to Napoleon during the German Campaign of 1813. Prussia wanted to incorporate the state as a part of Prussia. The complete removal of the Saxon state was prevented at the Congress of Vienna by Austrian state Chancellor Metternich, but Prussia was able to annex three-fifths of Saxony territory. Saxony lost, among other things, the Wittenberg district, the former Duchy of Saxony, next to Torgau, Lower Lusatia, half of Upper Lusatia and all the regions in Thuringia. The King of Prussia therefore called himself Duke of Saxony.

Duke of Westphalia